'The Fighter' Movie Review

Title: The Fighter

Director: David O. Russell

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Jack McGeew


The sports biography has maintained its status of being one of the most popular genres in the American film industry today by emphasizing the main character preparing for an important game. However, the new Relativity Media drama ‘The Fighter’ hoped to separate itself from the norm by also focusing on the characters learning how to cope with each other. Director David O. Russell not only succeeded in his promise to set his biography about boxer Mickey Ward (played by Mark Wahlberg) apart from other sports memoirs by showcasing the fighter’s rise to fame, but by chronicling his struggles with his family as well.

‘The Fighter’ chronicles Mickey’s boxing career in his hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts in 1993. While his half-brother, welterweight boxer Dickey Eklund (portrayed by Christian Bale), is still living off his 1978 win against Sugar Ray Leonard and has succumbed to a crack addition, he’s determined to help Mickey get his big break in the ring. But Mickey is firm in his decision to separate himself from Dickey after he’s sent to prison for several crimes, including masked armed robbery. Mickey also wants to break free from their dominating mother Alice (played by Melissa Leo), who serves as their manager. Mickey finds the strength to branch out on his own in the boxing world after he begins dating Charlene (portrayed by Amy Adams) and starts training with Lowell’s police sergeant Mickey O’Keefe.

Wahlberg helped set ‘The Fighter’ apart from other sports biographies by truly committing to the role. Not only did he have Micky and Dickey move in with him during the film’s pre-production to understand their lives better, he also insisted on performing all of his own stunts. He began a strict bodybuilding regimen four years before the movie began shooting, and hired former professional boxer Freddie Roach to train him.


Written by: Karen Benardello


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